Health and safety issues along with finding ways to reduce costs of labor and food are ongoing efforts for every restaurant across the world. One area that always has high safety and cost concerns in any restaurant that fries food is the handling, use and removal of cooking oil. Much has been done to automate the handling and use of waste cooking oil and fresh cooking oil, but there are few options available to automate, monitor, measure and manage a users' oil use, allowing a user to have greater control of their fry oil usage. Consequently, an effective solution is necessary.
There is a need for an automated data management system that monitors waste oil, oil filtration, and fresh oil, and that allows a user to track usage and collection volumes and compare relevant data. The present invention discloses an oil monitoring device or integrated control panel designed primarily to monitor, measure, and display measurement parameters for containers of fresh oil and/or waste oil and oil filtration, and also discloses that the monitoring device or integrated control panel can be linked to one or more computers, any one of which may function as a data management system. The monitoring device or integrated control panel may be linked to computer by hard wire, by wireless connection or cellular network, etc. The system allows a user to have greater control over fry oil usage, and allows the user to track the data online, any time, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. The system also allows a variety of individuals to track the entire oil use process, for example, customers, their franchisees and waste oil recovery companies, and the like. Thus, the system provides management of fry oil usage, which helps to reduce oil use, lower costs, and increase profits.